WAYLAND -- A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday upheld a decision by the federal government to set aside 147 acres of land for a proposed Indian casino in southwest Michigan.

A groundbreaking on the casino near Wayland will be scheduled soon, said James Nye, spokesman for the Gun Lake tribe of the Pottawatomi Indians. A further legal appeal by opponents, however, is still likely.

The Gun Lake tribe has been working for more than a decade to develop a new casino in Allegan County. The site includes the former Ampro Products building, which tribal leaders plan to convert into the $200 million Gun Lake Casino.

"This is fantastic news for the people of the tribe and for West Michigan," tribe spokesman Nye said of Tuesday's court ruling.

"This is the end of a legal challenge that has lasted for years. Clearly the opponents have had their day in court, and now we look forward to construction of the casino, hiring thousands of local residents and sharing tens of millions of dollars with local and state governments," he said.

John Bursch, a partner with Warner Norcross & Judd in Grand Rapids who is representing the group Michigan Gambling Opposition (MichGo), said the ruling was a disappointment.

"But we are extremely encouraged by the dissent of Judge (Janice Rogers) Brown," he said. "She excoriated the majority and agreed with us on the major issue in this case, the constitutionality of the statute that gives the federal government the authority to take this land in trust for a casino."

Bursch said the group plans to petition the United States Supreme Court to hear the issue. "And given that the Supreme Court majority's judicial philosophy aligns with that of Judge Brown," he said, "we are very confident they will take the case."

Todd Boorsma, long-time opponent of the project, called the decision a "huge victory for the opponents" because the dissent sets the stage for the appeal.

"It allows us to go to the next level," said Boorsma, the opposition group's long-time leader who stepped down a few months ago to run for state representative for the 88th District. "This is what we had hoped for because we knew two of the panel members were not on our side."

Proponents have said the casino would employ about 1,800 people and have about 2,500 electronic gambling machines and 80 gaming tables.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the decision by the Interior Department to take the land in Wayland Township into trust for a casino. MichGO sued in 2005 to block the government from taking the land into trust. The case has been winding its way through the court system since then.

Early in 2007, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington sided with the government. However, he issued a stay preventing the land from being taken into trust pending the outcome of MichGO's appeal.

MichGO is a group of local residents and business people who formed at least six years ago to oppose the casino.